Реферат: Yukon Settlement Essay Research Paper Yukon SettlementBy

In the 1840’s, the Hudson’s Bay Company began establishing trading

post along the Yukon River, helping to start commercial businesses in

Alaska and Northern Canada. The region was virtually unihabitated until

1896, the year of the Gold Rush in the creeks and rivers of the North. At

the peak of the gold rush in 1898, the population of Dawson alone was

more than 400,000. This shows how big of an affect the rush was having

on the region’s population. Over 100 million dollars worth of gold was

discovered in the region between 1896 and 1904. The reason for many

people to be there was to get rich quick, but others also found a new

beginning to their lives. The population of the area began to decline

because of an exhaustion of the richer placeer deposits, in 1921, there

were a mere 4157 people in the Yukon territory. The population had a rise

during World War II with the construction of the Alaska Highway.

In 1901, the population of the Yukon territory was roughly 27

thousand people. In the next decade, the region suffered a great drop in

population the continued into 1931 when the population had dropped to a

mere 4 thousand people. Slowly the region began to rebound economically

and became the mining industrial power that it is today. In 1971, the

population of the Yukon territory was 18 thousand people. From then on,

the population steadily increased showing strong growth. By the year

1991, the population of the Yukon territory had reached it’s early post-

gold rush levels. The population in that year was as it was in 1901, a

astounding 27 thousand people. (Encarta)

The gold rush was an obvious foundation for the growth of the Yukon

territory and Alaska. It was a humble beginning for the economy of the north.

Many people were involved in the rush, and some even died in the search of

gold. Others, who found no gold, found a beginning in their lives. As

Andrew Firth and many others did, they started business that eventually

would become the basis to the economy of The Yukon Territory and Alaska.